The shuttle break up.....

[cabinetman]

Traveling at 3.3 miles per second, there isn't any chance of much debris let alone survivors. Imagine, the family members were waiting for the crew to arrive in Florida! What a disaster. I've also seen the scroll saying that debris hit the shuttle on blast off and insulation was seen falling away.

God bless the astronauts and their familes.


Rome

 

[2dogs]

This is tragic, just tragic.

God bless them all.

 

[Schuey2002]

I'm still in a state of shock...

This IS tragic..

 

[Politically Incorrect]

I feel the same grief I had as a nine-year-old fourth grader at Murlin Heights Elementary School when the Challenger exploded for these seven astronauts.

Yet, I have questions on whether a nine-year-old today will feel the same way due to the desensitized nature of their generation exposed to so much information about the dangers of the worlds. But that question can wait.

Let's give our thoughts and prayers to the families to these seven astronauts:

Rick Husband
William McCool
Michael Anderson
Kalpana Chawla
David Brown
Laurel Clark
Ilan Ramon

 

[Alan Fud]

posted by "Wildalaska":

sabatoge is being considered.

No one has raisedd that issue at all!!

Local news in south Florida has mentioned it a couple of times -- just posting what I heard for those that might not be near the news. Fox news is also reporting that it might be an act of terrorism.

 

[Gary H]

I guess that it was a matter of time. I hope that Bush can find the right words and God help the family.

 

[Baba Louie]

So sad.

NPR just announced that the Israeli payload specialist was one of the Israeli pilots that helped carry out the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor attack in 1981, and that initial launch security was, to say the least, heavy.

It does make one wonder, given the current world situation.

Here's hoping that this was only a 26 year old vehicle with some form of heat tile/small meteor impact disruption in lieu of a more sinister cause.

Prayers for family members in order.

So sad.

Adios

 

[M1911]

Fox news is also reporting that it might be an act of terrorism.

Complete nonsense. Not a chance. Lots of chances for technical failure.

May the astronauts rest in peace.

 

[Ebbtide]

http://weather.noaa.gov/radar/loop/DS.p20-r/si.kgrk.shtml

(Radar loop from National Doppler radar)

Is this signifacant?

Wonder is the red line is the debris?

Tagic, just tragic.

ehenz

 

[Bob Locke]

And just a few days past the anniversary of the Challenger explosion, too.

Maybe time to reconsider sending up shuttles in the middle of winter, even launched from Florida.

 

[Marko Kloos]

Sheesh...now it won't be long before Pierre Salinger shows up claiming that the Navy shot it down.

Seriously, folks: the orbiter was at 200,000 feet, over the continental United States, travelling at Mach 6. No fighter or surface-to-air missile in the world can reach up that high.

This is a tragic accident, but let's not indulge in Osama-did-it conspiracy fantasies. Space travel is dangerous; that's why we look up to the astronauts as heroes. I wonder whether this nation has yet been coddled enough to forget its pioneer spirit and clamor for "safer" space travel...or maybe for the cancellation of the space program altogether. It's just what the anti-progress, anti-technology people would love to see.

 

[Jorah]

Shuttle "Deorbit" burn and flight path

That radar loop that was caught by the earlier poster... wow

Here is the original planned flight path.

 

[Alan Fud]

The lost crew ...

 

[Baba Louie]

And what about the people up in the space station, re: supplies, etc.?

Contingency plans?

Adios

 

[cabinetman]

NASA just admitted that a piece of debris from the external fuel tank came off during launch (probably ice) and hit the leading edge of the wing. Was a tile damaged?

Rome

 

[hso]

WRT the space station crew - The return flight has been on the schedule for months and would not be delayed significantly. Time will be taken to inspect the orbiter that was intended to deliver the new crew and pick up the current crew . Some small delay is to be expected, but the flight will take place and those astronauts will be brought home. It is quite possible that USGov. will decide that flights to the station will be put on hold until the accident investigation is completed in a few months, but there is no chance that a STS flight will not take place very nearly on schedule to retrieve the current space station crew.

As to the possible damage on launch of the Columbia - this has happened before. NASA didn't consider it a problem on this flight after conducting a safety review.

 

[cracked butt]

The loss of the Challenger did not end the manned space flight program, as will neither the loss of the Columbia.


AS for terrorist, sabotage, conspiracy aspect of this tragic accident- get a life. There is no way anyone without extensive background checks and clearances are going to get anywhere near the space shuttle. Unless we are to believe that NASA is training sleeper terrorist agents to be astronauts, sabotage is completely out of the question.

Mechanical things fail all the time. One minute your cruising down the highway and the next your right front tire blows out for no apparant reason. While a space shuttle is much more carefully maintained than anyone's vehicle, stuff still breaks. A crew of a spaceshuttle live on a very razor's edge between a safe landing and quick and sudden death, anything that goes wrong can tip the balance in the wrong direction. Astronauts know these risks just like you know the risks of leaving your house in the morning, jumping in your car and driving to work. You know that there is a risk that you might not make it back home alive but don't think about it although people do die everyday doing such mundane activities.

 

[Thumper]

If for some reason NASA can't go back, there's a Soyuz capsule at the station as a contingency return vehicle.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

I am not surprised. It was just a matter of time. This particular vehicle, Columbia, is over 20 years old. The shuttle fleet creaks along while NASA has not found a viable replacement. It was a compromised design to begin with. Reentry is the most stressfull part of space flight. The aerodynamics are extremely violent. There is tremendous heat.

So now we have a space station and no way to get to it without Russian help until they figure this out. Clearly NASA and the US have to find a better way to get up and down.

It is a damn shame for the astronauts and their families. But often things like this, because of the nature of human beings to procrastinate, that this tragedy will serve as a wake up call to modernize our space fleet.

America will be back in space in the Shuttle, hopefully soon, and I hope that a replacement for the Shuttle will be found soon as well. If not, then these seven people would have died in vain.

 

[10-Ring]

Thoughts & prayers go out to all those involved today (astronauts, friends, family, ground control etc) in the mishap of the space shuttle Columbia.

 

[Thumper]

Shuttles have a projected lifespan of 100 flights. This was Columbia's 26th.

 

[Coronach]

1. God bless them and their families.

2. It is safe to assume that this is NOT terrorism, until we hear otherwise. The whole scenario sounds unlikely. I'm quite sure that there will be people working for Uncle Sam who will be going over this with a fine tooth comb and laboring under no such assumption...but they have access to the information that we do not, making their queries an investigation and ours a speculation. Let it rest.

3. Loss of a tile during re-entry is, from my layman's POV, decidedly likely. I dunno if the ice/whatever falling from the fuel tank could do it, but I also recall (IIRC applies) that back in the early days of the program Columbia had multiple problems with tiles falling off...fortunately none of them in critical areas.

4. Columbia is also the oldest of our shuttle fleet. If any orbiter was going to have age-related issues, she's the one.



Mike

 

[buzz_knox]

As I recall, all tiles are replaced after each mission. So, the age of bird shouldn't have anything to do with tile failures. Most likely scenario now IMO is that either ice/debris during launch or debris impact while in orbit damaged the tiles enough to preclude safe reentry. I doubt anyone knew there was any real damage or danger, or you would not have seen her coming down today.

 

[hso]

NASA plans a midday announcement on the loss of Columbia. We may or may not know more then, but until they tell us no one knows what happened.

 

[bad_dad_brad]

A breakup at Mach 18. I am sure they did not feel anything. According to the news, Columbia had 26 flights and the shuttle was designed to go 100 missions, but that the 100 mission thing was just a number to justify the cost of the shuttle, and we are in unknown territory aerodynamically as to the true flight life of the shuttle. After all, the shuttle is by all rights an X-craft. It is the first and only aircraft that has gone up and down into space over and over. (The Russian Buron only made one flight).

Remember the Comet, the first jet airliner? Engineers didn't really know what they were doing, and suddenly the thing just drops out of the sky. Turned out to be cracks in the fuselage caused by compression and de-compression.

Official NASA statement:

NASA STATEMENT ON LOSS OF COMMUNICATIONS WITH COLUMBIA

A Space Shuttle contingency has been declared in Mission Control, Houston, as a result of the loss of communication with the Space Shuttle Columbia at approximately 9 a.m. EST Saturday as it descended toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. It was scheduled to touchdown at 9:16 a.m. EST.

Communication and tracking of the shuttle was lost at 9 a.m. EST at an altitude of about 203,000 feet in the area above north central Texas. At the time communications were lost. The shuttle was traveling approximately 12,500 miles per hour (Mach 18). No communication and tracking information were received in Mission Control after that time.

Search and rescue teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth and in portions of East Texas have been alerted. Any debris that is located in the area that may be related to the Space Shuttle contingency should be avoided and may be hazardous as a result of toxic propellants used aboard the shuttle. The location of any possible debris should immediately be reported to local authorities.

Flight controllers in Mission Control have secured all information, notes and data pertinent to today's entry and landing by Space Shuttle Columbia and continue to methodically proceed through contingency plans.

News media covering the Space Shuttle should stay tuned to NASA Television, which is broadcast on AMC-2, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees West longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical and audio is monaural at 6.8 MHz. Reporters can also go to any NASA center newsroom to monitor the situation.

New information, including the times and locations of press briefings, will be posted to this page.